AUREMA / Retreat 01 · Međimurje, Croatia
The Nature of Coming Home
Find your green. Find yourself.
Five retreat days. Small group. Local life. Space to slow down.
Why this retreat
Sometimes you need to leave your everyday life to find your way back to it.
The idea for The Nature of Coming Home began with Andrijana's own experience of retreats.
At certain moments in her life, stepping away from everyday routines gave her something she hadn't expected: perspective, space and, at times, a renewed sense of meaning.
She wanted to create an experience that could offer other people that same possibility — without promising transformation, prescribing a new lifestyle or telling anyone who they should become.
Instead, The Nature of Coming Home brings together the things that helped her personally: movement, nature, quiet, creativity, shared food, new experiences and time.
And one idea in particular: you don't have to live in the countryside to have a place to return to.
Even in the middle of a busy life — even in a city — we can create our own small corner of nature, ritual or stillness. A place we know how to return to when life becomes too loud.
That is the nature of coming home.
At the heart of the retreat
Our door is open.
The Nature of Coming Home unfolds across two homes and two sides of Međimurje.
For the first three days, the heart of the retreat is Sukha Vacation House — the home of Andrijana's friends, opened to the group as a warm, private setting for shared lunches, yoga, workshops, conversation and time together.
For the final two days, the retreat moves to Čakovec and into Andrijana's own home. This is where guests are welcomed into her everyday world and experience the city from the inside, not simply as visitors passing through.
Neither space is a conventional retreat centre. They are real homes, shared with guests for a few days.
That sense of hospitality is central to AUREMA: entering a place through the people who live there.
Who it is for
AUREMA might be for you if…
- You feel that life has become a little too fast.
- You want to travel, but don't want to spend your holiday rushing from one attraction to another.
- You're curious about how people actually live in the place you're visiting.
- You like the idea of entering someone's home.
- You miss nature — or want to rediscover it in everyday life.
- You're looking for calm without needing a five-day programme of self-improvement.
- You enjoy movement, food, conversation and discovering something new.
You don't need to be good at yoga. You don't need to meditate. You don't need to arrive with a problem that needs fixing. You only need to want to slow down for a while.
What AUREMA isn't.
Programme
Five days. One gentle journey.
- Transfer from Zagreb
- Check-in at Terme Sveti Martin
- Transfer to Sukha Vacation House
- Lunch and time to settle in
- Yoga Nidra and introductions
- Return to hotel · Dinner
Today is about arriving. Not only geographically.
- Breakfast
- Pick local vegetables
- Community lunch cooking
- Free time
- Dinner by the Mura River
We get closer to where our food comes from: gather ingredients, bring them home and cook together. Food tastes slightly different when you know its story.
- Breakfast
- Nature walk to Sukha Vacation House
- Simple routines for health and beauty
- Lunch
- Musical Time Machine
- Mađerkin breg
- Return to hotel · Dinner
A day for body, senses and landscape. Walk. Listen. Look further than usual. And end the afternoon among the vineyard hills of Upper Međimurje.
- Breakfast and hotel check-out
- Transfer to Čakovec and Hotel Castellum
- Walk to the studio
- Barefoot Tea Ritual
- Lunch
- Art workshop
- Free time
- Group dinner in the city
From nature into the city. The retreat moves to Čakovec and the rhythm changes with it. There is tea, creativity, a little time to wander, and a table waiting for us in the evening.
- Breakfast
- Morning yoga
- Closing circle
- Lunch
- Free afternoon
- Bird watching
Not an ending. A return. A quieter final day with enough space to let the experience settle — and perhaps to think about one simple question: what would you like to take home with you?
- Breakfast
- Transfer to Zagreb, Hotel International
You arrived as our guest. We hope you leave feeling that somewhere in northern Croatia there is now a door you know.
Food
Around the table
Food isn't something we fit between activities. It's part of the retreat.
During the first part of the retreat, breakfast and dinner are served at the accommodation, while lunches are vegetarian or vegan and connected to the rhythm of the programme.
One day, we'll go closer to the source: pick vegetables locally, bring them back with us and cook lunch together.
During the Čakovec part of the retreat, breakfast is served at Hotel Castellum, lunches remain vegetarian or vegan, and Thursday ends with a shared group dinner in the city.
If you have food allergies or dietary requirements, tell us in your booking request so we can confirm what can be accommodated.
Accommodation
Where you'll stay
Terme Sveti Martin · 3 nights
- Double-room apartment accommodation with half board
- Breakfast and dinner included
- Swimming-pool access included
- Single occupancy available for an additional EUR 30 per person
- Wellness treatments are not included
Hotel Castellum, Čakovec · 2 nights
- Single or double-room accommodation
- Breakfast included
- An additional dinner can be arranged for EUR 30 per person where applicable
- In the centre of Čakovec for the final chapter of the retreat
Getting here
Getting here is part of what we take care of.
Your AUREMA journey begins in Zagreb.
The group transfer departs from Hotel International, Miramarska cesta 24, Zagreb.
The retreat programme begins on Monday at 12:00 at Sukha Vacation House in Međimurje.
At the end of the retreat, the organised transfer returns the group in front of Hotel International in Zagreb.
Guests arriving by car receive detailed arrival instructions after their reservation is confirmed.
You take care of getting to Zagreb. We'll take it from there.
Price
EUR 1,700per person
One retreat. Almost everything taken care of.
Included
- 5 nights accommodation
- Organised transfers from and to Zagreb
- Local transportation included in the retreat programme
- Breakfasts and meals included according to the programme
- Vegetarian/vegan retreat lunches
- All scheduled retreat activities and workshops
- Swimming-pool access at Terme Sveti Martin
- Local experiences and tastings included in the programme
- AUREMA welcome gift
Not included
- Travel to and from Zagreb
- Travel insurance
- Personal expenses
- Wellness treatments at Terme Sveti Martin
- Single-use supplement at Terme Sveti Martin (EUR 30 per person)
- Friday evening dinner — can be arranged for an additional EUR 30 per person
Local connection
Travel should connect us to a place.
For The Nature of Coming Home, AUREMA collaborates with Jelena and True Colors, a boutique travel agency and consultancy specialising in sustainable, inclusive and regenerative tourism.
Together, we connect the retreat with local experiences, people and stories, while approaching tourism with respect for the destination in which it takes place.
This partnership belongs specifically to The Nature of Coming Home. Tourism and destination partners are appointed separately for each AUREMA retreat.
Travel deeper. Leave lighter.
Booking
Request your place
Sending a booking request does not reserve your place. Once availability has been confirmed, you will receive payment instructions.
Your reservation is confirmed once payment has been received. Full payment must be received no later than 30 days before the retreat begins.
The retreat operates with a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 16 guests.
For The Nature of Coming Home, booking terms, cancellation conditions and other legally required travel information will be supplied through the formal booking process managed with True Colors.